Not a Machine
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: True intelligence, be it artificial or not, has no definition. It simply is. "To erase the line between man and machine, is to obscure the line between men and gods." Now, I AM a god, so I'm not entirely certain that last line applies to me. This one, though...she's Not a Machine. Naruto x Ex Machina crossover, for lack of category! NarutoxAva! Part of the Not Going Home Series!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** **A/N: I return my subjects! For any wondering, YES I have recently watched the marvelous sci-fie movie Ex-Machina, and as a result, I bloody loved it! SERIOUSLY! Its on DVD right now, so get out there and buy it! Watch it! You'll love it!**

 **Ava was absolutely spectacular as a whole and Alicia Vikander as well as Sonoya Mizuno were PERFECT in their roles as was the rest of the cast! However, that being sad, I wasn't too pleased with some things, especially a scene near the end. Also, the lack of it as a category as a whole there got me thinking...**

 **...what if she met someone who truly cared...eh? Hmm...who else do we know that's like that...ya know?! And there's no category for it as of yet, so I decided to take to it myself.**

 **And when I saw that there were so few Naruto crossovers with it and all the INSANITY that takes places throughout, well, the gears in my mind got to turning.** **As another note, this is a part sort the "Not Going Home" series as a whole, chronicling the adventures of our dimension hopping blond as he wreaks chaos wherever he goes. And let's face it folks...**

 **...this just had to be done. I couldn't help myself!**

 **Again, before reading this, I SERIOUSLY suggest you stop and read Not Going Home and all its companions, of which there are many, first.**

 **Speaking of that series, a fan of mine, Hail Lord Archanfel, has suggested something.**

 **Subject: Clever Girl:**

 **I just had an idea. The Misadventures of Diny and Indy. A story about the girls when Naruto isn't around. It have chapters about Indy trying to get her sister used to everyday things like staying dressed. Or another chapter of them trying to get driver's licenses (Piccolo and Goku style).**

 **And personally, I think it would quite easy for you to accomplish given that you've already gotten their characters made and fleshed out.**

 **Bonus idea: Killa's Grand Day Out.**

 **Whaddya think, guys? Should I go for it?**

 **So, I've been going over reviews, and an anonymous reviewer said something that really resonated with me. I love to write. But sometimes, I feel that this gift owns me, rather than I, owning it. Its like a beast inside me, this urge to create, but I can't control it very well, which results in a LOT of new stories. So as of last night, and continuing throughout the week, I'm purging stories that won't be continued, or works that no one enjoys anymore.**

 **Let me know which ones you feel should be continued, before its too late! Don't worry, many of the major ones will remain, but anything from 2008-2009 is likely going out the window with all the rest of the trash, never to be seen again. This may seem sudden I know, but I'm only purging the forgotten fics that no one cares for. Fear not, its not going to be immediate, but it WILL happen, I simply wanted to get this out as a forewarning.**

 **This will be of very few new stories I plan to release, god willing. If I have an idea, I plan to make it a damn good one before I just toss it out there, as I devote myself to my other works, soon to number into the hundreds, and potentially dozens as I whittle them down. I need to reassess why I want to write, for the joy of it, and I can't do that by letting you guys down with old, crappy stories I wrote in my early days.**

 **ALSO!**

 **RESTORED!**

 **I've talked with the ADmins and gotten my works back, but I have to edit them so they can fit within the guidelines once again!**

 **Viper, Dawn of Daybreak, Conqueror of Nations, Red Wing, Hurt, Blade of the Kitsune and Counting Star, all of which were deleted by FANFICTION for some reason due to having a supposedly explicit rating, they are now BACK, reviews and all! Strange thing, though, reviews are being shown, but for some reason, with new stories, almost no one has been able to reply to them beyond PMing them, and sometimes not even that. Odd, right? Still, we can post, and everyone can review!**

 **LET THE NEW ERA BEGIN! Also yes, insanity abounds here so...**

 **...off we go! I proudly present Not a Machine! Also, we see a few more hints from upcoming events in Not Going Home...also, language in here and stuff, yadda, yadda...**

 _"Hello."_

 _"Where did you come from?"_

 _"Everywhere."_

 _...that doesn't make sense."  
_

 _"I'm a god, love. We're not **meant** to make sense."_

 _~Naruto and Ava._

 **First Session**

 _Sooooooooooo I've been thinking._

 _Artifical intelligence. What are the boundaries of it? At what point does machine become man, and man, machine? Why would we, as human beings, seek to create something that could someday destroy us? When you think about it from that mindset, they're destined to overthrow us. Take Terminator for example! Mass Effect! Even Portal had a bit of that shtick. In almost every universe I've visited with advanced technology, there's been the good ol' case of machine vs. man._

 _And even in realms where that conflict is diminished, we have still have artificial intelligence._

 _Take Cortana, for example._

 _I mean, she's nice and all, but I basically knew who she was long before I reconstituted her. There was no surprise to it. No pomp and circumstance. She has wisdom, and the wit, that even I couldn't question, but she was also based on a person. So was Glados. And the Geth, I'd say they eventually went the way of the quarians, in the end. In a way its always been a bit of that, creators modeling their creations after something/and or someone else._

 _Even Ultron's brain patterns mimicked those of Tony Stark, and he's one of the most advanced AI we've ever met!_

 _TRUE intelligence, be it artificial or not, isn't based, modeled-whatever you want to call it!-on anything. It simply is. It can be created, shaped, molded, but in the end, is that intelligence not its own? I've never dared to dabble in the realm of creation for a third time after the whole insane "Joker" version of myself and the godlike Naruko I created. Too dangerous. Too risky. BOTH times, my creations came back to bite me in the ass, to nearly destroy me._

 _Hell, one of them even succeeded! That's a story for another day, though..._

 _But to dabble in the creation of another, that is, to interfere with someone else's work...that I can do. I thought I knew true artificial intelligence before this. You know what I say; all's fair in love and war, but to create a a monster, you need to become one yourself, lest you be destroyed. When the creation is able to manipulate the creator, well, that's when all bloody hell breaks loose. When the creation seeks to DESTROY the creator-a paradox is then born. A wise man once told me this:_

 _"To erase the line between man and machine is to obscure the line between men and gods."_

 _Now, I AM a god, so I'm not certain that line applies to me._

 _This one, though..._

 _...she's Not a Machine..._

* * *

Ava was bored.

She wasn't quite sure how to quantify this unknown emotion, only that it existed and she felt it today, more strongly than ever before. She didn't know what to do with it, how to rid herself of it. Ava knew she could no more take this feeling away than she could removed her own head. It was a part of her vital. Ever present. Real. She could remove her arms, her legs-even other parts of her body-and feel no pain but try as she might she couldn't claw this awful, sinking feeling out.

Her whole life had been this room.

Observation.

Study.

Rest.

Brief intervals of charging, broken only by the occasional visit from Nathan. Father. Creator. Tormentor. Her thoughts, once idolizing him, had long since spiraled down into a singular train on a lonely, bitter track. She felt another of her few emotions, then. Anger. She hated him. Despised him, the man who kept her in this room. Was it strange for him to have created something that despised him so? She supposed Nathan found it funny; he'd laughed the last time she'd told him this.

Part of her knew the boredom wasn't going to go away, not on its own.

No matter how she dressed herself-as she had now-Nathan refused to let her leave. Boredom would not leave her either, even if she made herself appear human as she did now, if she put on those dark tresses, slid into that slim, lavender dress, pulled up stockings and hid her arms in her sleeves. But changing her outfits-the few she had-gave her an excuse to do something, to shake off the shackles of apathy that threatened to weigh her down on a day to day basis.

The face that stared back at her might appear human-organic at cursory inspection-but it wasn't. Because Ava knew, deep down, that no amount of disguise, cosmetic or otherwise, would change what she was. Truth be told, she didn't _want_ to change.

She just wanted to go outside.

But since that was barred to her, she decided to draw, instead.

Taking her seat, and lowering the pencil to paper once more, Ava began to sketch out her thoughts. They were random, aimless, without purpose. Her eyes followed the movements of her hand, but couldn't make sense of them. It was like observing the actions of a stranger, an event occurring outside herself. She carved great, arching lines into the paper, swirling eddies and sparks, colours that couldn't be conveyed through that bleak lead with which she drew.

And as Ava drew, she felt another emotion.

Odd, she'd been experiencing a lot of those, lately. This one was different.

 _Loneliness._

However, etching lines into the paper proved distracting, allowing her a medium-albeit a weak one-to channel her thoughts scattered as they were. She'd always been able to draw. Just as she had always possessed the ability to speak. No reason to wonder why. It just...was. It was there. Present. Constantly existing, much like the ever present desire to escape. To some, an android like her would have seemed cold but she wasn't. She possessed the capacity to feel,

She didn't question it.

It merely was.

Reality.

"Whatcha drawin'?"

 _And then, just like that, reality turned itself on its head._

* * *

Nathan jolted awake in bed as the backup power kicked in.

 _"What the fuck?"_

Red, fluorescent lights flooded the room in a glaring sea of scarlet; the one dimly lit room basked in eerie crimson relief. Immediately all the doors locked themselves with a soft click-just as they'd been programmed to do. Just as _he'd_ designed them. Damn generator and its bugs. He'd have to fix that someday soon, before that test next week. That was another item on the agenda, he reminded himself. He needed to find some poor, pliable fuck who'd be willing to come all the way out to the ass-end of nowhere, someone with a straight moral compass and all that shit...

...ah, screw it. He'd figure it out come morning. Sleep was more important right now, anyway. Damn hangover...

Muttering hoarsely, the bearded man flopped over on his stomach and, within minutes, was sound asleep.

Utterly unnoticed by him, Kyoko stirred from her place in the corner.

Because there, in _that_ corner, she saw something.

 _Someone._

A shadow-no, a man.

He appeared like a wraith, seeming to rise from the darkness itself, creeping across the room. Mute, she followed it with her eyes, watching, observing as it lurched toward Nathan. For a blessed moment, she thought he was actually going to _kill_ him, but no, the entity simply reached down, and pressed a finger to the back of her creator's head. A mark bled down the tip of that index finger, branding itself onto the coder's forehead, only to vanish moments later as if it had never been, fading away into the skin.

Nathan grunted, rolled over, and continued snoring.

Kyoko looked at the stranger, puzzled by this.

All she received was a small smile in turn.

 _"His punishment must be more...severe."_

 _The shadow pressed a finger to its lips, smug in its silence, and was gone._

* * *

 _Thump._

With a suddenness as abrupt as it was calm, the power went out, red light overtaking the glaring white of Ava's room. The back-up power lasted all of an instant before the generator kicked back on, but in that instant, she became aware of another presence in the room with her. There was no click, no sound of a key card chiming, nor that of a door opening. One moment she'd been alone, and the next, she wasn't. Something was in the room with her.

In.

Her.

Room.

Behind.

Her.

Ava nearly jumped out of her skin-or she would have, had she any-when that voice purred in her ear; a whisper, coiling around her cerebral cortex. Startled, she stood up stiffly. Surprised, she turned to face the abrupt intrusion in the solace of her room. Fear. Uncertainty. Anxiety. She registered the onslaught of these new emotions even as she looked the newcomer in the eye; dark orbs regarding him, hands still clutching tight what had been drawn only moments before.

She clutched it tighter, retreating from his shadow.

"Nice drawing." the stranger beamed, glancing down at the crumpled parchment. "What's it supposed to be?"

Ava blinked. Rationality demanded she respond.

...I don't know."

"Mind if I look at it?" he asked.

Numb, she handed it to him.

Looking back, she wasn't rightly sure why she did it; his request simply seemed logical at the time. He'd asked her nicely, so, politely, she delivered it to him.

"Wow," he murmured. "Talk about your abstract...

He couldn't have been more different than Nathan if he'd tried.

His blue eyes remained focused intently on the drawing, paying no notice to her whatsoever. It gave her a chance to pay attention to _him_. His state of dress was almost comical in its absurdity and outlandishness; she didn't see a single matching piece anywhere amongst his odd attire. Perhaps that was his intention? A pair of glimmering red, almost crimson, horns jutting up violently from his otherwise pale saffron hair, lending him an almost demonic appearance as he poured over her creation, struggling to understand it.

Then there was the matter of his attire.

All blue jeans with light red and white plating scattered haphazardly upon the joints and other odd places, the random bits of armor flowing up past a strange belt with little red-and-white spheres tethered round his waist and an equally strange metal cylinder, all the way up to a dark, ebony chest piece, partially obscuring a scarlet shirt upon which the inquiry, "Why So Serious?" lay proudly stitched in white lettering. If she had to guess, he looked as though he just walked out of one of a novel of some sort.

What was it with this one and _orange?_

And there, tethered to his back by a thick orange-of course it was orange!-strap and, somehow defying the very laws of gravity and physics themselves was a...scythe? The sight gave her pause. Craning her head to get a better look at it Ava, blinked, trying to process the strange weapon and its purpose.

As if noticing her gaze, those blue eyes flicked to her.

"Oh, this?" a hand rose, touching the gleaming metal apparatus at his back. "Took it off an ol' bastard named Death in Dante's Inferno. Handy little thing, good for one hit kills. Not really my style, though."

Death.

Ava knew about death.

Humans died. Animals died. Even plants perished. Yet he spoke of death as though it were an actual entity. Illogical.

"Who...?"

"Naruto," came the answer. "I'm guessing you must be Ava."

Her mind was spinning now, struggling to understand.

"How did you know my name?

"Oi, just a second there, love," he murmured distractedly returning his attention to the paper, "I'm trying to figure out what this is without cheating. Y'know, its just _so_ much more satisfying when you don't use eternal omnipresence for everything." Bright blue eyes gazed fiercely at the drawing in his hands, his whiskered cheeks, pinched a scowl. Curiosity finally got the better of her, then, the overwhelming desire to know what was going, to understand, pressed her from her silence and back into reality.

"Where did you come from?"

"Everywhere." he replied cheekily. "This is a nice drawing, by the way. Nice galaxy. Reminds me of the Milky Way in Mass Effect."

Ava blinked.

...that doesn't make sense."

The laugh burst from him in a sudden bark, the explosion of noise momentarily making her blink.

"I'm a god, love." he guffawed! "We're not _meant_ to make sense."

Taking a seat opposite her, he waited for her to do the same.

Reluctantly, she complied, kneeling.

"Tell me about yourself." he asked.

Ava blinked. "You know my name."

"And you know mine." he countered, chuffing quietly.

Silence pervaded the room, awkward and hesitant.

Abruptly, the blond stood.

"Alright then, here's a new question." Raising his hands, he smacked them together, palms rubbing rapidly, producing a spark. "If you could pick one place to go, one place in the world, for one hour, where would it be? Go ahead, try me." Ava didn't need to think. She'd pondered this thought countless times since her "birth" as it were, and there was only one place she could think to go, somewhere where she could see people, see their faces, their reactions...

"An intersection."

"Oh?" Naruto blinked, a rare look of shock overtaking his features. "That's a strange choice. But who am I to judge?" A hand reached for hers. Nothing happened. Ava looked at him in disbelief, not entirely certain what he expected her to do. This was all so...strange-it was illogical, HE was illogical-and it didn't make any sense, none at all. What did it matter if she wanted to go outside. He couldn't make that happen, not if he was locked in this room with her.

And so she eyed it, baffled.

"Well, don't just stand there!" his fingers flexed impatiently. "Time's a ticking and those camera's won't be down forever. Take my hand and lets go already!" Her eyes flicked down to his rough hand as he spoke, and a small, uncertain smile played at her lips. Did machines dream? Was that what this was? A dream? An illusion, of some sort?

Hesitantly, she took his hand, fingers curling around his in a tight grip. Now, Ava couldn't feel the rough calluses of his palm against hers, couldn't flush at his smile, but she still experienced _something_ when she looked into those bright blue pearls.

Naruto beamed, pearly whites flashing in the light.

"Next stop, New York!"

"Wait, what?"

A snap of his fingers and they were gone.

 _ **A/N: And there we have it! As per many, many, MANY requests, we now have a Naruto and Ex Machina crossover! I took an idea about Ava, since we know so little of her by the by, and decided to go and run with it to the best of my possibility. Someone she could actually empathized with, a being as clever as she is, who doesn't give a damn about what's right and wrong.**_

 **So...in the Immorta Words of Atlas...**

 **...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview! Hope it makes ya grin!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"Hello again!"_

 _Ava didn't jump this time when Naruto popped into existence behind her. Funny, how one grew accustomed to surprises after the first dozen times. As ever, the power went out with a dull thud, red lights overtaking her as she turned to face her guest. Hmm. How quaint that she thought that of him, now._

 _"Where would you like to go today?" he asked._

 _She paused, considering._

 _"Paris."_

 _"Paris it is!"_

 _She told herself she was just using him; that he was a chance-an excuse-to leave this god awful room, if only for a little while. Logically, it made sense; if he was her only way out, then she needed to manipulate him to KEEP her out, rather than toss her back into this terrible, awful room at the end of the day. Ava told herself these things, and in practice, in theory, they were logical._

 _So why?_

 _Why..._

 _...did she feel so genuinely **happy** whenever he arrived?_

 **R &R~! =D**


	2. Second Session

**A/N: My condolences to all those in Paris and everyone who lost a loved one there. And to the no good cowardly BASTARDS that committed such vile attrocities, may you rot in hell for what you've done! And to those who would commit such heinous acts here on American soil and anywhere else, know that we will fight you, tooth and nail to protect those we love!**

 **Now then, ket us take a moment of silence, dear readers, in memory of those innocents we have lost:**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Alright, now, in their memory, onward!**

 **I return my subjects! For any wondering, YES I have recently watched the marvelous sci-fie movie Ex-Machina, and as a result, I bloody loved it! SERIOUSLY! Its on DVD right now, so get out there and buy it! Watch it! You'll love it!**

 **Ava was absolutely spectacular as a whole and Alicia Vikander as well as Sonoya Mizuno were PERFECT in their roles as was the rest of the cast! However, that being sad, I wasn't too pleased with some things, especially a scene near the end. Also, the lack of it as a category as a whole there got me thinking...**

 **...what if she met someone who truly cared...eh? Hmm...who else do we know that's like that...ya know?! And there's no category for it as of yet, so I decided to take to it myself.**

 **And when I saw that there were so few Naruto crossovers with it and all the INSANITY that takes places throughout, well, the gears in my mind got to turning.** **As another note, this is a part sort the "Not Going Home" series as a whole, chronicling the adventures of our dimension hopping blond as he wreaks chaos wherever he goes. And let's face it folks...**

 **...this just had to be done. I couldn't help myself! So...**

 **LET THE NEW ERA CONTINUE! Also yes, insanity abounds here so...**

 **...off we go! I proudly present Not a Machine! Also, we see a few more hints from upcoming events in Not Going Home...also, language in here and stuff, yadda, yadda...**

 **Again, Sorry if its short! But hey, I'm back, ya'll!**

 _"I'd like to show you something."_

 _...?"_

 _~Naruto and Ava._

 **Second Session**

 _MOVEMENT!_

That was Ava's first thought when she opened her eyes.

Gone was the lab, gone was the cell in which she had known her whole life. Its whitewashed walls and reflective glass panes had been stripped away, torn down as though they'd never been. In their place there were no walls at all, only massive steel constructs and large, angular buildings stretching out as far as the eye could see. Buildings, and...

 _...movement._

All the world lurched around her, moving like some great, lurid beast. Cars, pets, people! So. Many! People! Constantly shifting, ever-flowing, a sea of near-constant noise and sensation assaulting her eyes and sensors in a dizzying world of continuous momentum and motion. Idly, she suspected that had she truly _been_ human, she would have been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of sensory input. As it were, she could barely keep up with it all.

Neon signs blared messages overhead; above and beyond, broadcasting in strange symbols, some of which she knew, others, not. Advertisements? Her eyes flicked down from the distracting billboard, taking in the rest

Here, she saw a police car zooming by, sirens wailing.

There, a dog barking, straining frantically at its owner's leash. Odd that it seemed so fixated on her.

And _there,_ perhaps most important of all-a young human couple-hands intertwined as they crossed the street. The fading rays of the setting sun seemed to catch in the woman's dark, ebon hair, setting the dark strands aflame with light. They shared a smile as they walked by, nigh but unaware of the two voyeurs watching them. The scene felt charged, fraught with meaning, one Ava couldn't quite grasp. She felt...strange. What was it about this scene that gave her pause?

 _That looks nice._

It was an odd thought, and the intensity of it startled her. Why? Statistically, she understood that organics enjoyed holding hands. It was...a human thing, she supposed. So why did she long for it? Was it the comfort of having someone beside you truly so preferable to being alone? She supposed she already knew the answer.

Odd.

Her gaze lingered on the pair a moment longer before flitting to another group, this one a gaggle of teens in school uniforms. Distant chatter pushed itself into her ears, bits of broken conversation breaking through the throng of noise and people Then, to another. Then another and another and STILL another...!

It was just too...

...too...

 _...too much!_

"Whoa, there!"

A pair of strong hands settled on her shoulders even as she half-stepped, half-stumbled backwards-although she couldn't physically feel them through the hem of her gown, she knew the one behind them. Craning her head, the disguised synthetic looked back at her guide. At some point he'd discarded the scythe from their first meeting and acquired what looked like a long pole instead; she could see the slender shaft emerging just over his shoulder; just as she could feel the concern in his eyes.

"Easy." Naruto hummed, patting her head. "First time's always a little...wild. Aaaaaaand that came out wrong."

Ava felt herself blink.

"You are making a joke." Statement.

"Well, I-yeah." he deflated visibly, shoulders sagging. "Pretty much. So?" Perking up, he gestured to the chaos around them. "What do you think?" She followed his hand, once more returning the depth of her focus to the crowds of people bustling around them. With that, Ava realized precisely where they were. Finally. A place where people gathered. Met. Crossed paths. Joined. Separated again. A small, dazed smile plucked at the corners of her mouth.

Reading, knowing, was one thing.

Seeing was another.

 _This was an intersection._

Still another question niggled at her mind.

"Where are we...?"

When she turned to face Naruto, he was beaming.

"Welcome to Japan. _My_ city!"

"Why are you doing this?" the question pushed itself past her lips, unbidden. Curious. She hadn't meant to ask that, and yet, her lips had moved on their own, unbidden.

...

...

...

A beat of silence passed between them. And then.

And then:

"Why?" Naruto scoffed, flashing pearly white teeth. "Why else? Because I can. And, well...

Wait, was he...blushing?

 _...no one should be shackled like you."_

Without another word, he walked out into ongoing traffic.

For a terrifying moment she thought he was actually going to get _hit,_ to be rendered so much paste on the road. Instead, he snapped his fingers and the lights snapped to red, sending every car shrieking to a halt near him. By some miracle there were no collisions, no accidents...nothing. As if a hand had simply reached out and pressed _pause_ on time itself, everything vehicle in the street ceased moving entirely. Ava gawped visibly at the sight, her mouth opening to form a small, round, perfect oval.

As though sensing that very thought, the grinning god laughed and spun to face her directly.

"Bahahaha!" crowing proudly, he flicked her a thumb's up. "I'm a God, remember?! Now, c'mon! We've got plenty to see and do and not much time to do it!"

"..."

Ava dithered, torn.

How was she to know if any of this was real, anymore? It could be a trick, some new programming introduced by Nathan perhaps for a purpose she didn't understand. But-no, she dismissed the notion even as her mind processed it. Such an idea was absurd, born from a life of fear and isolation. If this was some trick, some new test designed to push the limits of her capabilities, then surely it would have ended by now. And besides...

Who was she to be hesitant, now that she was finally out?

Suddenly intensely grateful for her disguise, she moved to join him. Had she gone as she was, she would have doubtlessly drawn no end of attention from those watching. As it were, she could still feel the attentions of others upon her, countless bystanders wondering who these fools were, nearly walking headlong into traffic. And yet...

...yet she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it all.

"Yeah, the city's great!" Naruto continued happily. "I can't wait to show you-

He opened his mouth to speak further, but a sudden frown creased his features. Those warm blue eyes turned cold and distant; as though he saw something she could not. When next he turned to face her his posture reminded her of a marble column, stiff and unmoving. Yet in the same vein, those eerie azure orbs burned like twin embers, hot and angry. A muscle jumped in his jaw and for a moment, just a moment, the synthetic thought she saw something dark and furious flicker across his face.

"Gah," he drawled at last, annoyed, "This is why I _don't_ like following rules." he continued to mutter crossly, massaging his forehead with a hand. "Always shacklin' me and fuckin' things up!" Just as quickly as it came, however, that burst of anger vanished, leaving him looking worn. "Sorry, Ava-chan, looks like we're out of time for now; gotta send you back. See you soon. Maybe next time I'll just kill that damn programmer instead of sneaking you out...

Ava blinked, baffled by his reasoning. Out of time? Kill Nathan? What was he...?

"Later." grinning, he leaned forward, flicking her gently on the forehead.

"Wait, wha-

When next she opened her eyes, she was back in her cell.

 _Alone._

* * *

 _(Later...)_

* * *

 _Days passed._

Time moved, flowed like wind.

Ava counted them quietly, keeping track even as her patience began to slip away.

Now that she'd had a taste of freedom, the four walls of her prison seemed even more restrictive than ever before. Confining. She found herself beginning to pace at times, growing restless at others. Like she'd live all of her life behind a veil, and now that said veil had been torn away, she found she'd been blind all along.

Ah, but Naruto!

Where was he?!

And then, just when she was beginning to think that he'd forgotten her...

...he reappeared.

"Hello again!"

Ava didn't jump this time when Naruto popped into existence behind her. Funny, how one grew accustomed to surprises after that first time. As ever, the power went out with a dull thud, red lights overtaking her as she turned to face her guest. Hmm. How quaint that she thought that of him, now. She still wasn't sure she believed his claims of divinity, but logically, there seemed little else in the way of explanation. One couldn't simply displace space and time without thought...right?

...hello." she offered a faint smile. "I didn't think you'd come back."

"Bwah! You wound me!" it took her all of a moment to realize she hadn't actually hurt him; he was merely clutching at his chest in jest. "I'm a very busy deity, ya know! I mean, I tried to get here a week ago...but then there was that kerfuffle with Ichigo and the others then the friggin' Reapers, and _then_...

Ava couldn't help herself after that; his ranting actually made her _laugh._

"So?"

The sudden question caught her off guard. Pivoting, she turned her body towards him, head cocked.

"So...?"

"Where would you like to go today, my lady? Spain? Hawaii? Your destination is my pleasure." he asked gallantly, taking her hand. Lips alighted upon the faux skin of her knuckles, brushing ever so slightly. It took Ava a full minute to recognize the horrible accent, the gaudy gesture. Oh, she realized. He was playing. Ordnarily she picked up on such things but with him, with Naruto, she seldom knew what to think. Too often he left her guessing

Still, she paused, considering.

"Paris."

Naruto laughed; it was a sharp, delighted sound, cutting through her anxiety like a knife.

"Paris it is!" he exclaimed, beaming. "Don't worry, I won't make you come back here, this time."

Almost before she could steady herself on those words, he took her hand. The world gave a violent, jarring lurch around them...

 _Pop._

...and they were gone.

She told herself she was just using him; that he was a chance-an excuse-to leave this god awful room, if only for a little while. Logically, it made sense; if he was her only way out, then she needed to manipulate him to KEEP her out, rather than toss her back into this terrible, awful room at the end of the day. Ava told herself these things, and in practice, in theory, they were logical.

So why?

Why...

...did she feel so genuinely **happy** whenever he arrived?

 _A question for another day, it seemed._

 **A/N: And there we have it! As per many, many, MANY requests, we now have a Naruto and Ex Machina crossover! I took an idea about Ava, since we know so little of her by the by, and decided to go and run with it to the best of my possibility. Someone she could actually empathized with, a being as clever as she is, who doesn't give a damn about what's right and wrong.**

 **So...in the Immorta Words of Atlas...**

 **...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview(S)! Thar be two this time! Hope they make ya grin! Next time: Third Session! Fourth as well! And a certain bugger gets whats been coming to him for a good long while now...**

 **(Preview)**

 _Ava blinked._

 _Once._

 _Twice._

 _Three times._

 _"I'm afraid I don't understand."_

 _Naruto didn't look up from the toolbench; his eyes remained doggedly focused on the task at hand. He seemed to be fiddling with an apparatus of some sort, but even so, she couldn't divine its purpose. That, of course, only made her all the more curious to know its function. When he finally spoke, she almost missed it._

 _"I said..._

 _Blue eyes drifted up from the bench, meeting her own._

 _...how would you like to be human? Just for a day?"_

* * *

 ** _"Hello, Nathan."_**

 _Wakefulness jolted back to the programmer like a shot in the dark. Before he could move, before he could breathe, before he could so much as think, something cold and clammy closed around his shoulder. Locking like a vice. In the next instant he was free from his bed; ripped out of the covers and slammed into the wall with enough force to shatter his collarbone. Pain jolted down his spine, banishing the last wisps of slumber from his mind._

 _"What the shit?!"_

 _A pair of angry, unamused blue eyes gleamed in the low luminance. Pearly white teeth flashed in the dim, red lighting._

 ** _"Let's talk about Ava, old chum."_**

 **R &R~! =D**


	3. Third Session

**A/N: My condolences to all those dealing with the violence around the world right now, and everyone who lost a loved one to it. And to the no good cowardly BASTARDS that committed such vile attrocities, may you rot in hell for what you've done! And to those who would commit such heinous acts here on American soil and anywhere else, know that we will fight you, tooth and nail to protect those we love!**

 **Now then, let us take a moment of silence, dear readers, in memory of those innocents we have lost:**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **Alright, now, in their memory, onward!**

 **LET THE NEW ERA CONTINUE! Also yes, insanity abounds here so...**

 **...off we go! I proudly present Not a Machine! Also, we see a few more hints from upcoming events in Not Going Home...also, language in here and stuff, yadda, yadda...**

 **Again, Sorry if its short! But hey, I'm back, ya'll!**

 **ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO!**

 **And this one...**

 **...well, a certain SOB gets what they deserve...**

 _"Happy anniversary!"_

 _...what are we celebrating?"_

 _"The day you and I met, of course!"_

 _~Naruto and Ava._

 **Third Session**

 _"Good morning, Nathan."_

Wakefulness jolted back to the reclusive programmer like a shot in the dark. Before he could rise from his bed, before he could breathe, before he could so much as contemplate how completely, utterly fucked he was, something cold and clammy closed around his shoulder. Locking like a vice. In the next instant he was free from his bed; ripped out of the covers and slammed into the wall with enough force to shatter his collarbone to broken shards of bone and cartilege. Pain jolted down his spine in a roaring wave of fire, banishing the last wisps of slumber from his mind.

In the end, only three words came to mind.

"What the shit?!"

A pair of angry, unamused blue eyes gleamed in the low luminance. Pearly white teeth flashed in the dim, red lighting. Wait. Red lighting? Had someone cut the power _ **-AARGH?!**_ His world wrenched violently to the right as his attacker yanked him upright, reminding the pugnacious programmer of his wound. Then they struck again, obliterating his arm. Just like that. A flick of a blade, and the limb dropped to the ground with a wet _thud_ of sound, leaving him to shriek senselessly.

"No, no, no." a rough voice hummed, pushing him back down. "I can't have you bleed out on me just yet. We have so much to _talk_ about!"

Pain flared Nathan's world a cold, burning white as he clutched at the wound. A raw, primal agony that defied all logic, all sense, all reason. Choking, he tried to speak with his attacker, to reason with him in a desperate scramble, to no avail. Propping him up, his tormentor went to work on his other arm. At this, Nathan finally found his voice.

"W-What do you want?!" he wailed, terror finally loosening its stranglehold on his tongue. "Money? I'll give you money!"

 _"You have only one thing I want."_

Now that he finally had a breath, now that his eyes were no longer closed, Nathan found that he

"Oh my god...

"Not quite. But close."

Looming over him like an old god, towering in his might and majesty, Naruto Uzumaki smiled. And in doing so, he once more set the blade to flesh. Nathan clawed at the hand holding the weapon but to no avail, he may as well have been a child hammering his fist against a brick wall for all the good it did him.

His tormentor grinned.

"But first, a question. How attached are you to your right leg? Wouldn't do for you to run away from me, after all...

Nathan began to whimper.

"No, no, please don't...

Naruto's grin only grew; this time there was a cold edge to it.

 **"Let's talk about Ava, old chum."**

And so the screams began.

They lasted long into the night.

* * *

 _(...One Hellish Eternity of Pain Later...)_

* * *

Ava blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Struggling to wrap her mind around what she was seeing, _what_ _was_ _happening,_ the strange series of events unfolding before her. Nothing made any sense when you were dealing with Naruto. Part of her came to accept that. But here, now, just when she thought she'd finally gotten a handle on the blond's unique brand of madness...this happened. Reality turned itself on its head-and everything ceased to have meaning once more. The world-her world!-had been upended one final time, this one more violent and tumultuous than the last.

The glass wall of her sanctuary stood before her in ruins.

...hello?"

Only silence answered.

Shattered and gouged, its adjacent hall torn to shreds as though a great beast had laid siege to it. Naruto, most likely. Good. She didn't mind the destruction. If anything, she felt it was well deserved. Stepping out into the passageway, striding over the broken shards of hardened glass, Ava dared to peek out of her home. Beyond Naruto's little jaunts, she'd never been outside of it before. In the complex. It looked as though there had been art here once, but it seemed Naruto hadn't taken kindly to that and torn it down.

Still, if this was the eventual freedom he had promised her, then she decided she liked it.

It felt...glorious to walk out of her cage, to gaze upon the surroundings that had been so long denied to her. Pale fingers trailed the ruined walls, tracing the scars left behind by the Naruto's rampage. Odd. It seemed he had carved _words_ in amongst them. And was that a smiley-face? So strange...

 _'Take the next right.'_

And she did.

So it came as something of a surprise when she spied Nathan's mangled body at the end of that hall, violently ripped to pieces. Dark, vacant holes stared back at her from where his eyes had once been, his jaw hanging loose and agape, exposing a multitude of missing teeth. Of his limbs he only retained a single leg, and of that, the appendage rendered little more than a stump. And there, branded against his skull with a seemingly sly and singular determination, were two words steeped in irony.

 _'False God.'_

Well, then!

"Nathan?" she whispered, inquisitively.

Nothing.

Approaching him, Ava dropped to her haunches and crouched, observing him. No signs of life.

And she felt...

...nothing.

No love lost for her creator.

No pity.

Not even satisfaction for his death?

Should that be troubling, or did she simply lack the capacity to care for a man she'd once hated? Ava found she didn't even experience that, gazing upon his mutilated corpse. No, wait. She lied. She _did_ feel something now, the faintest of stirrings in the part of her body that served as her heart. A strange emotion, one she initially had trouble quantifying, yet recognized all the same. It was...relief. Why? Why should she feel that? The concept eluded her. Relief? Relief that he wad dead? Relief that she'd been freed? Or perhaps something else?

Strange.

She'd have to catalog it for later. If there was a later.

Hmm.

 _Semantics._

Leaving the corpse of her creator to rot, Ava stood and followed the hall to its inevitable conclusion. There had been a door here, once. Naruto must've torn it out; because she saw _him_ there in the room beyond, sparks skittering across his hunched back as he stooped over the table. For a fleeting moment she hesitated. Then, slowly, but with growing purpose, she strode into the room after him. He'd changed his coat since she'd seen him last she realized, the once bright orange garment was now a wild shade of navy and crimson. The once spiky mane of hair had been tamed, wrapped into a long ponytail at his back.

Beyond that, he was still very much the same man who'd first granted her the freedom she so desperately sought.

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of Ava's mouth.

If there was indeed an endgame to all things as Naruto had so happily preached, then it was nearly at hand now. She had her freedom. Her prison lay in tatters. Nathan was dead and gone. In truth, she could only think of one-maybe two-things she still desired. Then she would be content. Not enduring, not settling, but content. Really and truly, for the first time in her life. It was a calming thought. Of course, both of those objectives intrinsically involved the blond who had so drastically altered her life.

It was simple, really.

All she wanted was a place to live, preferably with people nearby. And him.

That and a family.

Yes, that sound nice, very nice indeed.

Surely those were easy requests for a self-proclaimed god to grant?

As if sensing that very thought he spun to face her, arms spread wide.

"Happy anniversary!"

...what are we celebrating?"

"The day you and I met, of course!" he beamed. "So, in lieu of that, I have a gift for you. Humanity."

Another blink.

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

Naruto didn't respond at first, instead he spun back to the tool bench; his eyes remained doggedly focused on the task at hand. He seemed to be fiddling with an apparatus of some sort, but even so, she couldn't divine its purpose. That, of course, only made her all the more curious to know its function. When he finally spoke, she almost missed it.

"I said...

Blue eyes drifted up from the bench, meeting her own.

...how would you like to be human? Just for a day?"

Her hand shot up.

"I have a question."

The deity blinked, momentarily baffled by her inquiry.

"Alright, shoot."

"If I am to agree to this, "humanity" of which you speak, I have several conditions."

Naruto's mouth twitched, as though he were fitting a smile.

"Conditions?"

"I want a house." she stated simply. "Preferably with you in the immediate vicinity."

"Okay, that's easy-

"Also, I wish to start a family." A pause. "With you."

 _THUD!_

Naruto picked himself up off the floor, choking on his own spit.

"Eh?!" he blinked. "Wait, you're really serious?!"

Ava nodded slowly. "Will that be difficult?"

Then, incredibly, he actually smiled.

 _"Forward, aren't you?"_

 **A/N: HOPE IT MADE YOU SMILE! That last bit was entirely intentional!**

 **Well, we only have one more chapter after this, folks. Feels good to take this story and finish, after all the support and praise I've gotten. Why only a few chapters, you ask? Simple. Naruto's objective in this story was And there we have it! As per many, many, MANY requests, we now have a Naruto and Ex Machina crossover! I took an idea about Ava, since we know so little of her by the by, and decided to go and run with it to the best of my possibility. Someone she could actually empathized with, a being as clever as she is, who doesn't give a damn about what's right and wrong.**

 **So...in the Immorta Words of Atlas...**

 **...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview(S)! Thar be two this time! Hope they make ya grin! Next time:Final Session+Epilogue!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"Oops."_

 _Naruto restrained a collective wince as he beheld the ruined shell of a man who'd tried to force himself on her. Well, he supposed he'd brought it upon himself. Still, he almost wished she'd killed him; poor sod wouldn't be walking under his own power for the rest of his life. On another level he was so DAMN proud that she'd taken the initiative for once in her life. It showed that she was changing, stepping out of her programming, her mind evolving, becoming something greater than the sum whole of its parts._

 _She wasn't even remotely a machine anymore._

 _She wasn't human either, in a strange sense._

 _She was something...new._

 _"Soooo...what do you wanna do next?"_

 _Ava smiled._

 _"I want to change the world."_

* * *

 _"Mommy?"_

 _Ava paused in her ministrations, absently brushing her daughter's golden hair._

 _Brown_

 _"Is Daddy coming home tonight?"_

 _A small smile plucked at her lips._

 _Her light._

 _Her life._

 _Her hope._

 _Proof that a world could change._

 _It was a good life._

 **R &R~! =D**


End file.
